A Fish Called Wanda

Audiences around the world were not alone in appreciating this sparkling British-set comedy, as stars John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin so enjoyed the experience that they went on to make a second feature together, the sadly disappointing Fierce Creatures. The comic credentials are impeccable, for not only were Cleese and Palin Monty Python colleagues, but director Charles Crichton was also responsible for those Ealing classics Hue and Cry, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt. The American pair more than play their part, however, with Kline wonderfully manic as the unhinged Otto and winning a best supporting actor Oscar in the process. The film even had the unlikely effect of making Cleese something of a sex symbol. A real belter.

Deft, blackish comedy with a little romance thrown in; its humour relied too much on Cleese's familiar, if expert, performance as an overbearing, uptight buffoon.